Ep. 50: Cyber Scent Work Shelter Dogs

Jun 2, 2021

In this short episode, we continue to discuss Cyber Scent Work, Inc. and how it can help resident shelter dogs. This is a feature of Cyber Scent Work, Inc. that we are particularly excited about!

Check out Cyber Scent Work, Inc. here: https://www.cyberscentwork.com/

Are you a staff member of a shelter and interested in applying for approval? You can here: https://www.cyberscentwork.com/shelter-approval

Learn more about Cyber Scent Work:

Speaker:

  • Dianna L. Santos

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to the All About Scent Work Podcast. In this podcast, we talk about all things Scent Work, that includes training tips, a behind scene's look of what your instructor or trial official may be going through, and much more. In this episode, we're going to be continuing our discussion about Cyber Scent Work. Very exciting. And in this episode in particular, we're going to be talking about Cyber Scent Work and shelter dogs.

So before we start diving into the podcast episode itself, let me do a very quick introduction of myself. My name is Dianna Santos. I'm the owner and lead instructor for Scent Work University, Dog Sport University, and Pet Dog U. These are all online dog training platforms that are designed to provide high quality dog training instruction, to as many people as possible. And we're very fortunate to have a client basis worldwide. At Scent Work University in particular, we provide online courses, seminars, webinars, and eBooks that are all designed to help you achieve your Scent Work training goals. So whether or not you're just getting started, you're trying to develop some more advanced skills, or if you're interested in trialing, we have a training solution for you. So without further ado, let's dive into the podcast episode.

So as you all know from our last podcast, we are in the process of launching a brand new business called Cyber Scent work, which myself and my business partner, Sean McMurray, are very, very, very excited about. We have the opinion that this is something that the community has been needing for a while. And again, because it's acting as a bridge between trialing and training in Scent Work, we think that it's going to be able to help a lot, and large swath of people and their dogs. But there's one little community that I don't think really got the attention that it needed when we were talking about this before, and that's shelter dogs. So we actually have an entire parcel of Cyber Scent Work that is dedicated just to shelter dogs, particularly for those who may be long-term residents with different shelters, or organizations, where they may be staying there for the long haul. Maybe for the entirety of their lives.

Finding something that is going to improve their quality of life is very, very, very important. Scent Work fits that bill perfectly. And there are shelters and rescues across the country, and I say even across the world, that have found this out, and are using Scent Work with their resident dogs, whether the long-term residents, or they're just there until they are able to be adopted. So with that in mind, Cyber Scent Work wants to help those dogs in particular. We want to invite them to participate in our program, and to promote more shelter dogs getting involved in Scent Work while they're in the shelter system itself.

So with that in mind, we have a whole system set up, where if there is a shelter that is interested in participating in our program, they can just apply. They provide some information about the shelter. We do a very quick check, and then we approve the shelter. The shelter is then able to create a free account through our site, and register as many dogs within their system as they wish, to put through the program itself.

For instance, there's a shelter that has three long-term residents. They're going to be there for the week long haul, but they also have two dogs that are probably going to be there for a little bit, before they can be adopted. And they're trying to convince people that these dogs have these really great qualities about them, right? They're very smart. They're very driven. And these would be really good dogs for candidates, but how do they get the word out? How do they let people know that, "Yeah, we think that these dogs actually do really well in a Scent Work trial." This is where Cyber Scent Work can come in. So by having shelters participate in our programs, enjoying a 50% discount, we're allowing them to register these dogs and they can choose which levels they want to participate in: beginner, novice, intermediate, advanced, master, or expert.

And they can also choose the track. For a lot of shelters, they're probably just going to be having their dogs hunting for food, as opposed to having them hunting for target odors, like Birch, Anise, or Clove. That's completely possible with Cyber Scent Work. We have a food track. So these shelters may decide, "You know what, we're going to have something where our volunteers are checking what the requirements are for, let's say, beginner interior and beginner container searches through Cyber Scent Work using the food track." Oh, okay. We would be able to do these things. And look at that. We can submit three videos of our dogs doing both an interior search, and then three videos of them doing a container search. And they would get titles for those that they pass.

We're also receiving training feedback from the review officials, all of whom have a variety of experience. Many of which have also worked with shelter dogs, or with behavioral unit dogs, or whatever the case may be. So they may even be providing other types of feedback that would be helpful for this dog, either while they're in the shelter system itself, or once they do become adopted. But here's the great part, as if all this wasn't good enough, that we're providing a reason for these dogs to play this wonderful game. They can really improve their quality of life while they're in the shelter. If they pass all three searches, they are then awarded a title. So as an example, we're going to say that Spot is going to be providing us with three videos for their beginner food interior searches, right?

And our review officials look them over and say, "Guess what? You have passed on all three." Well, Spot has now just earned their beginner interior food element title. This is an actual real title that Spot has in a shelter. They can then print out that certificate or they can make an image file of it, and post it on social media, in order to help promote Spot's adoptability to people who may be interested in getting into Scent Work, as a competition, maybe even in real trials. Or if they're like, "Well, we're not so sure if Spot would be okay at a real trial. Maybe a little too stressful for Spot."

But you can stay within Cyber Scent Work, and you can continue to work through their program, and still earn all these wonderful little certificates, and even better still. Let's say that we're talking about Riley, who is one of their long-term residents. And he's actually been doing Scent Work for a while, since he's been there. So they've been doing it for a while. So they're a little bit higher up. Let's say that Riley is doing an advanced type of search, right? They submit their videos over a span of time for all four elements. So interior, exterior container, and vehicles. And then Riley earns an advanced level food track title.

Not only do they get this wonderful certificate, but we also send you a ribbon. That includes shelters. What a wonderful way to help promote a dog for potential adoptability, or to just show off how great the shelters are taking the mental care of their dogs, meaning that they are having so much focus in how these dogs need to be engaged, day in and day out, to ensure that they're not deteriorating within the shelter system itself. That they are doing everything they can to ensure that these dogs have a good quality of life. That's really good!

So this is something that I am really particularly excited about, is allowing shelters to participate in our programs. Again, all the prices would be 50% off for approved shelters, and to help showcase these dogs, just how amazing they are.

And the fact, again, that we have a food track, that will allow these dogs in particular to participate and play, and to even promote them to do so, is something that I'm, again, very passionate about and very excited to see people really maximize on, and leverage that social media, and be like, "You know what? Spot and Riley did great in Cyber Scent Work. Look what they achieved. We're so excited for them." Yes. Yes, we are all very excited.

So I just wanted to make sure that it was clear that we are trying to help as many different parts of the Scent Work community as possible. And we think that all of them can benefit from Cyber Scent Work, and that it can be used to weave in to other things you may already be doing within Scent work as a whole.

I hope that you found this podcast episode a little bit helpful, particularly if you are involved with a shelter. If you're a volunteer, or if you're a staff member, and you want to learn a little bit more, you're always more than welcome to contact me at dianna@cyberscentwork.com. I'm always happy to answer any questions that you may have.

But thank you so much for listening to this podcast. We probably may have a few more talking about Cyber Scent Work, because again, we're really, really, really excited about it. But if there are ever any other topics that you're interested in us talking about, in regards to Scent Work, whether it be training questions that you may have, or other topics you'd like us to cover in our podcasts, by all means, please feel free to let me know. We'll be posting this podcast episode upon our Scent Work University Facebook page, and we welcome you to post any comments you have there. Thanks so much for listening.

Happy training. We look forward to seeing you soon.


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